MP youth turns vehicle thief to repay loan taken for sister’s marriage

NAGPUR: A 22-year-old youth, a painter by profession and a resident of Madhya Pradesh, turned to stealing bikes to pay off loans incurred during his sister’s marriage last year. He was planning to find some needy migrant labourers to dispose off the stolen bikes but got arrested before managing to sale even one.
Puneet Gaikwad, from whom cops have recovered 16 bikes, would come to city from Seoni for painting jobs and return with a stolen bike.
Sitabuldi police team of senior inspector Atul Sabnis, under supervision of zonal DCP Sandeep Pakhale, have also nabbed his accomplice, Akash Harinkhede, 24, during an operation in Seoni. In five hours, Sitabuldi police team recovered 16 bikes before bringing them back to city by truck.
It’s learnt that Gaikwad, who had borrowed money for sister’s marriage, was unable to repay. He had started following a trend in the adjoining districts of MP from where thieves flock to Nagpur to steal bikes and take them back.
It’s learnt the bikes, stolen from Nagpur, are disposed off in the remote villages of MP at throwaway prices with fake registration number plates and documents. City police have come across this trend of MP-based vehicle thieves pushing up the numbers of vehicle thefts in city.
Gaikwad and his accomplices have reportedly stolen bikes from Sitabuldi, Kapil Nagar, Jaripatka, Dhantoli and other places in city. As per records, this gang had started operating in city since May but was unable to dispose off any of the stolen bikes.
Sitabuldi polices’ detection team comprising of inspector Amol Kachore, asst inspector Santosh Kadam, sub-inspector Kailash Magar, head constable Ramakrishna Gire, Vikram Thakur and others, along with cyber cops, trapped Gaikwad in MP and his aide Harinkhede from Nagpur. Their another accomplice, Vijay Singh Harinkhede, is still at large.
Police said Gaikwad operated alone many times while he was accompanied by the aides on couple of occasions. “Gaikwad and his accomplices targeted bikes whose handle locks would be open. He would push such bikes to some distance before directing the wires to start ignition and flee with it,” said a cop adding Gaikwad had admitted about repaying loans as one of the reasons behind his stealing bikes.
Gaikwad and his aides would throw away the registration plates of the bikes stolen from Nagpur. “The stolen bikes were identified on the basis of the engine and chassis numbers. The thieves were planning to use fake number plates before selling them to poor villagers or labourers who would seldom ask them for authentic verification if it was being made available at a lower price,” said an official from Sitabuldi police station.